About Biblical Types and Symbols

Symbolic Language

The Bible contains many types and figures, that picture the plan of God
for man. These are present even in the opening chapters of Genesis. The
serpent in the Garden of Eden, pictures Satan, the devil or adversary.
Eve was called the mother of all, and her seed was to bruise the head
of
the serpent, picturing Christ overcoming the power of sin and death
[Genesis
3:15].

Numbers can be symbols too; the significance of the number
seven, for
example, as the number of days in which the whole of God's creative
work
is accomplished, is established in the creation account in the first
two
chapters of Genesis. The Bible uses numbers symbolically in several
prophecies.

Paul shows in 1
Corinthians 10:11 that all the things which came upon the Israelites
of old were examples for the Church in this age.

The affliction of Israel in Egypt, the judgment of the land,
and of
Pharaoh, and the miraculous deliverance of the Israelites, were also
types
for our instruction. Pharaoh, who resisted Moses and Aaron, was a
symbol
of Satan; the land of Egypt represented the world where men are in
bondage
to sin and darkness, from which believers are called out and
delivered.

The total time Israel wandered in the wilderness was 42 years
from the
date of the Exodus. The number 42 appears as a symbol, in the prophecy
of Revelation
11:2, but with different units; as 42 months. The holy city which is
trodden under foot 42 months is the Church. In Daniel
7:25, the saints are given into the hand of a little horn, having "eyes
like the eyes of a man," until "a time, and times, and the dividing of
time." Interpreting this, the saints are dominated by those having a
human
view and outlook on things, rather than a divine one, unto the end of
the
age. The 42 months or three and a half years of Revelation
11:2 is a variation on the "time, and times, and the dividing of time"
of Daniel
7:25.

In the prophecies of Daniel the exploits of Antiochus IV are
foretold
in detail. What purpose was there in it? The apostasy of some of the
Jews
in the second century BC during the reign of Antiochus seems to have
little
significance today, yet Daniel indicates these prophecies about
Antiochus
and Jerusalem were to be significant at the end time. Perhaps the
condition
in which those Jews found themselves was comparable to, and provides a
type of the state of the Church in the modern age. Antiochus IV
represents
the spirit of antiChrist in the world.

In the days of Antiochus IV some of the leaders of the Jews
abandoned
their ancient traditions and adopted Greek customs and beliefs. The
high
priests appointed by Antiochus were leaders who initiated the
hellenistic
reforms. There was a conflict between these apostates and the
conservative
"Hasidim" or "Godly Ones." The prophetic chapters in Daniel describe
the
apostasy and the actions of Antiochus against the Jews, but the story
seems
to abruptly skip over the centuries to the time of the end. The last
chapter
of Daniel describes the climax of the end, a time of trouble for the
world,
and the deliverance and resurrection of the saints.

The story of the events in the time of Antiochus IV is
presented in
detail, but the interpretaion of the significance of the historical
events
of the period pictured in the prophecy is up to us to discover. There
are
many parallels between events of those days, and our own time.